Islamic dietary laws--as spelled out in the Qur'an--also illustrate their relationship to the establishment of a sense of social identity and separateness.

Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was among other things a political leader who welded a nation out of the mutually warring tribes of Arabia.

His religious ideology legitimated the unification of these autonomous tribes and his own paramount rule over them.

The main religious tenets of Islam were derived from Judaism and early Christianity, and it is clear from the Qur'an that Islam was intended to encompass all aspects of life.

Muhammad apparently knew more about Judaism than about Christianity, and many of his strictures in the Qur'an were explicit in establishing distinctions between Arabs and Jews.

This is evident in his dietary regulations, which borrow heavily from Mosaic Law.

Specifically, Muhammad proscribed for Muslims the flesh of animals that are found dead, blood, swine's flesh, and food that had been offered or sacrificed to idols.

The most radical departure of Qur'anic from Mosaic dietary laws was in connection with intoxicating beverages.

Though Jews frown upon alcoholic beverages, they do not forbid them, and wine is an important element in many rituals and feasts; Muhammad, however, absolutely forbade any such beverages.

Specific departures from Mosaic and Christian dietary rules notwithstanding, Islam represents a more fundamental removal from all other major religions: what is polluting, forbidden, and enjoined for one person in Islam applies equally to all.

Islam's sharpest divergence in regard to local indigenous dietary laws is to be found in the religions of India.  In India, contrary to local caste dietary laws,  Muslims of all social statuses in an Indian village eat freely with each other, worship in the same mosques, and participate in ceremonies together.